Residents point out condo code violations

Elections set for new board of directors at Frenchman’s Creek in New Carrollton

Four-year resident Fredia Tatum and two-year resident Marshall Brown helped lead officials through laundry rooms, common areas and storage facilities of units along sections of Riverdale Road and Karen Elaine Drive. A musty odor greeted those who stepped into a storage room in one building on Karen Elaine Drive, where mud had leaked inside from a broken basement window.

Brown said the five-member Frenchman’s Creek board of directors is not accessible and residents are unable to go to them to get problems in their homes fixed. Calls for service or complaints must go through board president Paul Gbenoba before they are processed. Residents said calls for service either are not processed, or are processed but insufficient work is done.

‘‘We would like a board that isn’t acting individual of itself or treating the council of homeowners as if we don’t exist,” Brown said.

Calls made to Gbenoba were not returned, and other board members could not be reached for comment.

John Fulbright, a city of New Carrollton code enforcement officer, said the city has issued violations to Frenchman’s Creek for issues such as quality of common areas and water damage in housing units.

He said Frenchman’s Creek faces a $1,000 fine for not replacing 23 exterior lights. So far, 70 percent of the lights have been replaced. If the company does not repair all of the lights, Frenchman’s Creek could face further sanctions.

In April, several residents tried to unseat the board of directors — Gbenoba, Tara Gilead, Lord Moses, Rotimi Oyekanmi and Andrew Stephenson — during a scheduled election at the New Carrollton Municipal Center. Gbenoba ended the meeting due to a lack of quorum of 152 unit owners. The decision drew an angry response, and Gbenoba said he would reschedule the election. Auditor Harold Mohn said there were only 120 votes counted, but more than 70 residents were not allowed to vote because they had liens on their accounts because of overdue condominium fees. There are 608 units in Frenchman’s Creek.

Resident Lesley Stewart complained that Gbenoba is still making management decisions even though his three-year term as president has expired. Stewart intends to run for a position on the board. The next election will be held 7 p.m. July 25 at Berwyn Presbyterian Church in Berwyn Heights.

Stewart said the value of her home is depreciating without property upkeep. She said her two-bedroom, one-bathroom unit is worth about $160,000, while other condominiums in a 5- to 10-mile radius, such as Greenbriar in Greenbelt, cost between $200,000 and $230,000 for the same room layout.

Olson said he has participated in other walking tours, including one through New Carrollton on June 14 at which residents talked about their concerns. He said he met Frenchman’s Creek Condominium residents that day who urged him to do a similar walking tour of their community.

Olson said he was encouraged by the turnout and the drive of residents to see a change in conditions. He suggested having as many witnesses as possible to any changing of hands on the board, and to call his office with any constituent concerns.

‘‘The community is empowered to make changes for the betterment of Frenchman’s Creek,” Olson said.

E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.